


Transcendence

by VenusianBouquet



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Numbani is a beautiful city and is also my fave overwatch map, You do the math, Zenyatta is my favorite character, Zenyatta uses his ultimate and its crazy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 11:40:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8205038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenusianBouquet/pseuds/VenusianBouquet
Summary: A look at Zenyatta's abilities.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while ago, and kept revisiting it, and I ended up deleting a lot of it and re-writing a lot of it, and... well. This is the result. Not sure if I'm satisfied with it, tbh, but I didn't want it sitting unseen in my computer for the rest of its days. So here it is! Hope you guys enjoy it :)

Tekhartha Zenyatta is not a pacifist. Violence is simply another mode of operation, another tool to be used in creating a better world. Certainly the last tool that should be used, only if all else has failed, but a tool all the same. Yet part of him finds this regrettable; violence, to such a public degree, on a day meant for celebrating peace. In Numbani, no less. The ‘ _City of Harmony_ ’.

_Such a shame_. He recalls his orbs, reconstitutes those that have lost their shape, and begins volleying them anew. Lúcio skates by, ebullient beats transitioning flawlessly into the fluidity of his song _Rejuvenescência_. “Zenyatta, Talon _reeeally_ wants this gauntlet. They’re regrouping further ahead. Everyone okay?”

“Genji has dispatched many of them, and Hanzo has dedicated himself to picking off any stragglers. We can begin to move the gauntlet to the museum.”

“Great! Reinhardt, Winston, you got that?”

“Affirmative. Heading there now.”

“ _JA!_ ”

Lúcio lets out a loud laugh in response to Reinhardt's excitement. “I’ll go over to help them out, see what the opposition is like up ahead so y’all know what to expect, alright?”

“I understand.” In the meantime, their pace is sedate. Zenyatta even goes so far as to situate himself directly on the payload, calmly volleying his orbs as the few Talon agents remaining scramble from Winston’s electric weapon and Reinhardt’s hammer.

Amidst the action, however, something is... _wrong_. What it is, he cannot say. A quick inspection of Unity Plaza reveals nothing; it is only when he focuses his search that the monk sees cause for concern. Inside a boutique, there is a black fog, too thick to be mist, but too _wet_ to be smoke. Shifting, coalescing. It sows unease into the lines of his code, becoming more unsettling the more he stares at it.

A query of his memory systems serves him well; Overwatch agents had been warned about a mercenary with the ability to turn into smoke, codenamed Reaper. The substance in the shop congeals further into a human silhouette, and Zenyatta watches as it moves behind a bus.

Suspicions confirmed, he catalogues the team's positions: Winston, jumping in front of the payload; Lúcio, who’s moved further ahead with Genji and Reinhardt, masterfully alternating the music in their headsets from exuberant neon energy to a pulsating yellow glow and back; Hanzo has abandoned his high perch and situated himself next to Zenyatta, the tension between them ignored for the sake of professionalism. Reaper is nowhere to be seen.

Just as he is about to warn the others of what he's seen, Lùcio skates back. His eyes catch movement behind the bus, and his expression falls into one of surprise and dismay. It’s enough of a warning; just as Reaper jumps from behind the bus and raises his guns, Zenyatta _dives_.

“ ** _DIE, DIE, DIE!_** ”

“ ** _Experience tranquility._** ”

The Iris interfaces with his systems, and it is like coming home. A rainbow blossoms inside of and around him; the calm eye of a storm. It overpowers him. Submerged in molten light, golden arms move from behind him, swimming, shaping themselves into a configuration of their own accord. The Iris is aware of each and every bullet that launches from shotguns into the flesh of his allies, and they embrace it. They feel the agony of his enemy, and are moved to pity. The Iris is more than enough. They welcome it all.

His circuits hum, and his orbs chime, all one note, his entire being in harmony with the currents of the Iris. Sensors are shut off, and _still_ they are flooded, inundated with gold, the sounds of the Iris crashing upon him and inside him. They bathe in holy, radiant light, like a single life in a vast ocean.

It is the most calm he has ever been.

Zenyatta returns to himself suddenly, feeling bereft. He sends his _mala_ in a sharp rotation about his form before beginning his volley. Hanzo has wasted no time, marking Reaper with a sonic arrow during his attempted attack. It embeds itself in his flesh and renders him highlighted — easier to follow.

That is, until Reaper dissipates into a fine mist, and the arrow drops to the floor.

Hanzo mutters angrily, already equipping another arrow. He scales the bus and jumps up onto a balcony, sending another sonic arrow further ahead. It reveals a group of talon agents, clustered together. As the payload rounds the corner, Zenyatta focuses.

[  _“Brother Zenyatta, surely you don’t mean — leaving?”_

_“I must. I believe in our cause, and in the Iris, and it is why I must go forth. We cannot repair the problems of the world through isolation, cloistering ourselves within these peaks. It is my belief that we can effect change through other means, through living among humans and omnics alike.”_

_“Do not take me for a fool. I know your intentions, the meaning of your words. You mean to manipulate, to sow doubt and discord among people so you can repair the damage you yourself have caused. It is shameful.”_ ]

The memory is an angry one, the doubt it had once inspired still burrowed deep inside of him. It does its job. The heavy, incessantly shifting form of a discord orb has taken shape; he simply urges it on towards his target. “Bask in the shadow of doubt.”

The agent is killed a moment later by a shuriken, punctuated by a message from Genji. “The dragon is ready to be unleashed.”

It's all the warning they get before Genji jumps further into the fray; Zenyatta has no choice but to conjure up another memory: the sun, warming his frame as it rises over the mountain peaks, painting the sky a thousand colors. He recalls the rich light, the warmth of it. The joy it inspired both then and now.

The orb glows in his hands, arcing as it travels to Genji before tethering itself. “We walk in harmony, my student.”

Later, when the gauntlet is safely in the museum, and Lúcio is performing his sold-out show, the monk wanders through the apartment they’ve rented. He hears Genji, off with his brother, no doubt talking about the day’s events; Winston and Reinhardt in hushed whispers, arranging for transport out of Numbani. When he arrives in his room, the view of the savannah outside the window is dark and endless.

_As good a time as any to begin meditations_.

He breathes in.

He breathes out.

Before long, the Iris comes to him with unhurried ease, a small stream instead of an ocean. Zenyatta is calm once again.


End file.
